Another One! Biden Announces Round Of Student Loan Debt Cancellation For 160K Borrowers

President Joe Biden announced another round of student loan debt cancellation for 160,000 borrowers through a collaboration of existing programs.

On May 22, the Department of Education announced an additional round of debt cancellation – eliminating $7.7 billion in federal student loans. “From day one of my administration, I promised to fight to ensure higher education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity,” Biden said. 

“I will never stop working to cancel student debt — no matter how many times Republican-elected officials try to stop us.”

The latest addition brings the administration’s student debt cancellation total to $167 billion for close to five million Americans through several programs. 

Borrowers in this round come from three categories who reached specific milestones for eligibility. Candidates who enrolled in the new income-driven repayment plan – 54,000 borrowers – the 39,000 enrolled in earlier income-driven plans, and another 67,000 with the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program will be eligible. 

Biden’s latest payment plan, the SAVE Plan, provides a faster pathway to loan forgiveness than past versions. Borrowers become eligible for loan cancellation when they reach ten years of payments, a decade sooner than before. The plan also aims to help borrowers with prominent amounts of unpaid interest, those with older loans, people who attended low-value college programs, and borrowers facing hardships preventing them from making payments. 

According to The Hill, a number of borrowers enrolled in the SAVE plan are public service workers like teachers, nurses and law enforcement officials or have been approved for relief due to fixes within IDR plans. In a statement, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona called the administration’s efforts “persistent” and “proven.” “The Biden-Harris Administration remains persistent about our efforts to bring student debt relief to millions more across the country, and this announcement proves it,” Cardona said.

“One out of every ten federal student loan borrowers approved for debt relief means one out of every ten borrowers now has financial breathing room and a burden lifted.”

The cancellation is continuing regardless of legal issues from GOP-led states facing the Biden Administration. The state of Kansas is leading a group of 11 conservative-led states in a lawsuit back in March 2024. Shortly after, seven more states issued a suit in April, led by Missouri. Both federal lawsuits claim Biden needed to go through Congress for his federal repayment plans.

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